Post by Irish Stu on Aug 24, 2007 7:39:47 GMT -6
The company I run has been working with a new TV station based in the UK to produce their trade marketing website. The station itself is a ground breaking concept in television that as yet has not been done anywhere else in the world, and the website we have produced for them features some funky new technology that allows streaming content to be viewed by the user, but with a level of interactivity never previously seen. I'd love to post a link but for the time being the actual contents of the website are being closely guarded, and the URL is only being distributed to a select group of people, each of whom will have their own unique username and password allocated to them.
Anyhow, the point of my telling you all this is that last night my young web designer Neill (who I now know to have the alcohol tolerance of a 12 year old girl... but more of that later) and I were invited to a preview theater in London for an exclusive launch of the website to investors and potential investors in the TV station, representatives of some pretty hefty global brands who they would like to come on board as sponsors, and the cast of a new soap they have produced as a flagship show for the new station which we watched through the website. We've been working with the pilot of the soap for some weeks now to integrate it with the interactivity technology, so are by now very familiar with the show and it's cast, some of whom are familiar faces from British TV. So sitting in the preview theater it was almost surreal to see the cast sitting there watching the show with us, and even more surreal to be chatting with them afterwards over wine and canapés. The whole evening became even more surreal when one particularly hot young actress who Neill has had the hots for since we first got our hands on the pilot said to us as people began to drift off, "Come on guys, lets go for a proper drink!!". So that is what we did, and a little while later we were in La Boheme in Soho with a group of actors and actresses so familiar to us from our television screens. I have no idea why, but the first round that was bought was all Coronas, and that is what our little group stuck with for the rest of the night. Finally, when it was time for Neill and I to catch the last train home, air kisses were exchanged... as one must do when mixing in the theatrical world darling, before we left the bar, along with promises to stay in touch.
Thirty minutes later, having grabbed a quick McDonalds at the station, we are sitting on the train for the one hour trip home. Not long after setting off I must have fallen asleep, and I woke up a couple of stops from home. It was nearly 2am and I was a little disorientated at first, but one I had figured out why I was on a train I suddenly thought "Where the fuck is Neill?" The seat where he had been sitting across the aisle from me was empty, and on the floor was lots of newspaper covering up what I guessed was puke. After checking that none of the puke had got onto my shoes (hey you gotta prioritize) I said to the guy sitting opposite me "What happened to the tall blonde guy who was sitting over there?" He replied "Oh he threw up everywhere and got off at Shenfield."
SHENFIELD!! That was 30 minutes back down the line and this was the last train of the night!! I tried calling him but his phone just kept going to voicemail, and also considered calling my lawyer to see if losing an employee counted as some kind of employer negligence!! Finally the train arrived at my station where I jumped in a cab home, calling Neill several more times when I got there. Before I went to bed I thought maybe I should call the cops... did I fuck!! I figured he was probably asleep on a bench at Shenfield station and the experience would be character building for him
So this morning he just about made it into work. Turns out that after he was sick he drunkenly stumbled off the train at Shenfield thinking he was home, walked a little way along the platform, realised his mistake when he saw a Shenfield sign, and managed to get back on the train in another carriage before it left the station. Today he's a very deathly green/gray colour and is in such a state he is virtually having to negotiate the office on his hands and knees. Guessing the state he would be in if he made it in to work, to be particularly cruel to him, I am wearing a Corona t-shirt and have at various intervals offered to send someone out to get him a fried breakfast, egg sandwiches etc. He's already had to race to the bathroom to puke once!!
All in all a great night out.
Anyhow, the point of my telling you all this is that last night my young web designer Neill (who I now know to have the alcohol tolerance of a 12 year old girl... but more of that later) and I were invited to a preview theater in London for an exclusive launch of the website to investors and potential investors in the TV station, representatives of some pretty hefty global brands who they would like to come on board as sponsors, and the cast of a new soap they have produced as a flagship show for the new station which we watched through the website. We've been working with the pilot of the soap for some weeks now to integrate it with the interactivity technology, so are by now very familiar with the show and it's cast, some of whom are familiar faces from British TV. So sitting in the preview theater it was almost surreal to see the cast sitting there watching the show with us, and even more surreal to be chatting with them afterwards over wine and canapés. The whole evening became even more surreal when one particularly hot young actress who Neill has had the hots for since we first got our hands on the pilot said to us as people began to drift off, "Come on guys, lets go for a proper drink!!". So that is what we did, and a little while later we were in La Boheme in Soho with a group of actors and actresses so familiar to us from our television screens. I have no idea why, but the first round that was bought was all Coronas, and that is what our little group stuck with for the rest of the night. Finally, when it was time for Neill and I to catch the last train home, air kisses were exchanged... as one must do when mixing in the theatrical world darling, before we left the bar, along with promises to stay in touch.
Thirty minutes later, having grabbed a quick McDonalds at the station, we are sitting on the train for the one hour trip home. Not long after setting off I must have fallen asleep, and I woke up a couple of stops from home. It was nearly 2am and I was a little disorientated at first, but one I had figured out why I was on a train I suddenly thought "Where the fuck is Neill?" The seat where he had been sitting across the aisle from me was empty, and on the floor was lots of newspaper covering up what I guessed was puke. After checking that none of the puke had got onto my shoes (hey you gotta prioritize) I said to the guy sitting opposite me "What happened to the tall blonde guy who was sitting over there?" He replied "Oh he threw up everywhere and got off at Shenfield."
SHENFIELD!! That was 30 minutes back down the line and this was the last train of the night!! I tried calling him but his phone just kept going to voicemail, and also considered calling my lawyer to see if losing an employee counted as some kind of employer negligence!! Finally the train arrived at my station where I jumped in a cab home, calling Neill several more times when I got there. Before I went to bed I thought maybe I should call the cops... did I fuck!! I figured he was probably asleep on a bench at Shenfield station and the experience would be character building for him
So this morning he just about made it into work. Turns out that after he was sick he drunkenly stumbled off the train at Shenfield thinking he was home, walked a little way along the platform, realised his mistake when he saw a Shenfield sign, and managed to get back on the train in another carriage before it left the station. Today he's a very deathly green/gray colour and is in such a state he is virtually having to negotiate the office on his hands and knees. Guessing the state he would be in if he made it in to work, to be particularly cruel to him, I am wearing a Corona t-shirt and have at various intervals offered to send someone out to get him a fried breakfast, egg sandwiches etc. He's already had to race to the bathroom to puke once!!
All in all a great night out.